Thanks for the compliment, but I'm two years younger than dirt, having taught university-level economics for over 20 years. Anyway, please don't fall into the "we ought to punish the oil companies and levy an excess profits tax on them!" crowd. Which would you rather do: 1) levy an excess profits tax and have Washington get a windfall income increase, or 2) let the companies who produce oil have the profits and use them to find more (profitable) oil? Oil companies during the last quarter made a 10% profit on gross sales. Given that the "easy" oil is already being drilled, they need the extra income to absorb the greater costs and risks associated with current exploration. This is even more true because of the "tree huggers" opposition to less expensive exploration (e.g., the Gulf of Mexico).
As to giving the govt more income via an excess profits tax, Congress levied an "alternative fuel tax" in the mid-1970's to pay for alternative fuel sources. I don't know about where you are, but they don't seem to be selling any of that alternative fuel in my neighborhood, but they're still collecting the tax.
No...the market can solve a billion simultaneous equations per day a heck of a lot better than some money-grubbing politician in Washington. I will always trust free markets more than politicians or tree-huggers.
I hope you don't mind that I bookmarked your post. You did a great job of presenting the facts.